Virginia Guardsmen Better Equipped For Deployment

A yearlong overhaul updated the Army National Guard to match enemies in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Virginia's Army National Guard has nearly completed a yearlong overhaul designed to put its soldiers in units that are better equipped and better able to fight on today's battlefields.

For the troops, that could mean more deployments.

"It's more likely -- since we're transformed into units that are more easily used in the war -- we'll be put in the mix more," said Maj. Gen. Robert B. Newman, the state's adjutant general. But, Newman said, being recognized as a big player in the game has brought better equipment and training to Virginia's troops.

The restructuring has been an effort throughout the National Guard and Defense Department. Newman calls it an evaluation of the military's ability to match up with current enemy forces -- like those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When Virginia looked at its Guard units, officials realized that many of them were still designed to fight Cold War threats.

Large air and field artillery units, for example, were still around, ready to stand against a huge Soviet invasion. Over the past year, most air artillery units became cavalry units.

Field artillery soldiers turned into military police. "In peacekeeping and stability operations, like in Iraq, we need military police," Newman said.

And cavalry scouts and infantrymen are needed along Iraq's treacherous roads, scanning for roadside bombs before convoys move through.

Statewide, there wasn't a big drop in troop levels. But some soldiers did have decisions to make.

Soldiers in units that changed missions could either train to do a new job or move to a different unit that might be farther from home.

Some women were forced to move because they can't serve in infantry and cavalry units. They can be assigned to military police and transportation units, both of which were added in the change.

Staff Sgt. Cameron Mitchell, formerly a field artillery soldier who just completed training to become a cavalry scout, said he hadn't felt any negative effects of the change. "There's always been the possibility that I could deploy," the 29-year-old said. "I know that every time I put this uniform on."

Now, though, he trains on state-of-the-art equipment.

"The Army is realizing that we can't be ready to go to the war without the right equipment," Newman said.

First Lt. Jon Brillhart leads the medical team for the Portsmouth cavalry unit. Brillhart said that before the transformation, when it was an air artillery unit, he had next to no equipment and just a couple of medics. Brillhart now has 29 medics and four new ambulances.

"That's a big deal, when you think about the thousands of dollars it takes to stock them," Brillhart said. "As a cavalry unit, the mission puts my soldiers more in harm's way, putting them on the other side of the line. We have to have a strong medical team."

Believe it or not, said Capt. Fred Pennington, also of the cavalry unit, he's seeing a morale boost in his troops since the changes took effect. "Before, we trained, but we didn't do anything," Pennington said. He admitted that soldiers used to volunteer for air artillery duty because it was widely known that they'd add little to the fight.

Today, their training is more realistic to the fight that they're likely to see in Iraq or Afghanistan, Pennington said. "It's not that they felt like they were wasting their time before, but now they know what they're doing is needed, is worth something." *